In honour of the recent passing of one of Africa's most important directors, the deeply influential Med Hondo, BLACK GOLD returns this April with the Canadian premiere of a brand new restoration of his radical postcolonial masterpiece, SOLEIL Ô!

A limited amount of *FREE* tickets for this screening will be set aside for members of the black community. Please message Black Gold on Facebook or Instagram to reserve your complimentary ticket.

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In an unnamed French colony in West Africa, black men line up before a white priest for baptism and renaming—the first step in a process that simultaneously deracinates and subjugates them. In France, colonial blacks, encouraged by propaganda, arrive to seek a better life. What they find is unemployment or a handful of ‘dirty’ jobs, unacceptable living conditions, naked racism, and bureaucratic indifference. Searching for a new form, Med Hondo has eschewed all conventional narrative. From the stylized and surreal opening sequences to the episodic adventures of a particular man, the director presents a series of imaginative set pieces, linked by voice-over narrative, that investigate and dramatize a complex of interrelated themes. A scathing attack on colonialism, the film is also a shocking exposé of racism and a brutal and ironic indictment of Western capitalist values.

One of the first films depicting the experience of migrating from the African continent to France, this is a key work of postcolonial cinema.

Restored by Cineteca di Bologna at L'Immagine Ritrovata laboratory in collaboration with Med Hondo. Restoration funded by The George Lucas Family Foundation and The Film Foundation's World Cinema Project.

Black Gold wishes to acknowledge the Haudenosaunee, the Huron-Wendat, and the Mississaugas of the New Credit, the original keepers of this land, for hosting Black Gold and The Royal Cinema. Today, the meeting place of Tkaronto is still the home to many Indigenous peoples from across Turtle Island and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work and present in this territory.